Yes, why did so many manufacturers move their production to China? I've talked with component distributors who helped their manufacturing customers shift to China. While it's hard to believe, they insist many of these manufacturers did not gain from the move. The distributor executives said it was a follow-the-crowd mentality that sent so much U.S. manufacturing overseas.

I hope that as companies move back American manufacturers understand what drove jobs overseas in the first place. The only thing that stinks more than making one mistake is not learning from it and making the mistake again.

In the case of manufacturing, it will be interesting to see if unions are part of the plan when jobs come back to the U.S. Or will manufacturers take such good care of their employees that unions won't really be necessary.

I hope that as companies move back American manufacturers understand what drove jobs overseas in the first place. The only thing that stinks more than making one mistake is not learning from it and making the mistake again.

In the case of manufacturing, it will be interesting to see if unions are part of the plan when jobs come back to the U.S. Or will manufacturers take such good care of their employees that unions won't really be necessary.

@Jmiller, The United States actually is becoming competitive again, due to a number of factors. Asian labor is becoming more expensive, U.S. plants are becoming efficient, and energy costs are increasing the price of shipping. Thus there is the beginning of a trend to manufacture goods close to their markets.

I disagree that the U.S cannot compete on the mass production platforms. The only thing worse than a low labor cost production line making one mistake is one that makes thousands of the same mistake a day because they do not have the knowledge to correct the issue. I really do believe American pride in workmanship can compete. Now what I don't know is if there is a CEO with the guts to try it.

Yes, George, I've been hearing from both manufacturers (TI for one) and component distributors (who know where their customers are moving) that there's a flow of manufacturers moving from Asia. There are a number of reasons -- for one, rising costs. The nascent trend is toward putting manufacturing near the market.

The US can't compete on a cheap mass production basis. I think we should instead be concentrating on high tech, unique products that can't be manufactured cheaper elsewhere. Also, we should be emphasising our attributes, precision manufacturing, instant feedback, short lead times and the creation of jobs in the US.

naperlouRE: These jobs can come back in an instant. Becuase they are contract jobs.....

The TV news in San Antonio yesterday reported that Caterpillar, who just recently built a plant in Seguine TX, is being investigated for UNDER minimun wage pay to (employees?). This problem continues to skew the numbers especially along our southern border with Mexico. One wonders if the "drug war" (sic) is not raelly the only thing in the comerce numbers we see that need to reassesed at this point in time.

That's the bottom line, George: Building out, in the U.S., a flexible manufacturing base. I believe that many mid- and high-level managers at major manufacturing companies want to do this and know it needs to be done to remain competitive. It's also the case that many of these companies are sitting on piles of cash. It's Wall Street's contraints which are keeping them from investing this money on planting infrastructure in the U.S.-- there's no return during the quarter in which the money is spent.

Industrial workplaces are governed by OSHA rules, but this isn’t to say that rules are always followed. While injuries happen on production floors for a variety of reasons, of the top 10 OSHA rules that are most often ignored in industrial settings, two directly involve machine design: lockout/tagout procedures (LO/TO) and machine guarding.

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